Tubes and Modeling -- Worlds Collide

In 1955, an article on rock and roll in Variety magazine predicted, "It will be gone by June." Clearly, some predictions don't pan out. So, how about all the naysayers that pooh-poohed amp modeling technology, saying it would never sound as good as a tube amp? Well, how about a tube amp with modeling technology on board? With the Spider Valve series from Line 6, that's exactly what you get. Another prediction bites the dust.

Your Digital Modeler Is In My Tube Amp!

Line 6's reputation for dead-on amp modeling is well established, and the "MkII" version of these Spider Valve amps only serves to enhance it. The modeling section comes loaded with 16 of the coolest amps anywhere, painstakingly recreated for the most vivid, accurate tone you're likely to find short of buying all of the originals for yourself. Dial up instantly familiar tones from Fender, Vox, and Marshall, or more boutique sounds from Diezel, Hiwatt, Orange, Mesa Boogie, and more. When you call up an amp model, the Spider Valve's controls are instantly configured to match the original. Bass, Mid, and Treble knobs, for example, perform in true Fender fashion on the Vibroverb model as opposed to the "British Tonestack" you get from the Vox AC-30 Top Boost. Of course, Line 6 compensates for the rest of the amp in the output. This amp may have a single 12-inch speaker, but the '58 Bassman still sounds like a 4x10, just as you would expect.

Your Tube Amp Is In My Digital Modeler!

Since the Spider Valve 112 MkII combines the best of digital modeling with the best of analog amplification, it stands to reason Line 6 would enlist the help of one of the best amp designers in the world to handle the tube section. They chose Reinhold Bogner. His custom made amps such as the Uberschall, Shiva, and Ecstasy have tons of street cred with the rock and roll elite, and the more affordable Alchemist amps ain't too shabby either. Incorporating the digital technology posed some significant challenges, but Mr. Bogner was more than up to the task.

Onboard Effects and 14-Second Looping

Beyond the faithful amp modeling, you also get 20 sweet effects for even more color and texture in your tone. Add up to four effects at a time, and tweak up to six parameters per effect. Route all of this pre or post for even more control of our sound. For quick thickening of your tone, try the Smart Harmony setting, which lets you pick a scale and an interval and adds the extra notes without adding a second guitarist. Eighties metal lives! Another cool addition is the Pitch Glide, which lets you program intervals into an FBV Express or Shortboard foot controller (not included) and sweep back and forth. Set it for an octave down at the heel and octave up at the toe and you can get some cool Morello-like whammy bends. Line 6 also includes a 14-second Quick Loop function for sound-on-sound layering. Lay down a chord progression and work on your soloing, or create instant backing tracks at the live gig. Here's another cool use for the Quick Loop: capture a chord progression or riff, then play it back routed to post. Now, your hands are free to tweak the amp models and effects, and you can find a tone that brings that progression or riff to life!

Real Preamp Tubes and Power Tubes

Many "hybrid amps" limit the digital/analog interaction to a single preamp tube. This tube is typically underpowered, and really only there for the cachet that goes with being called a tube amp. It may warm up the preamp signal a bit, but that's about the extent of the benefit. Needless to say, that's not going to cut it for the Spider Valve. Reinhold added two 12AX7 tubes to the preamp section, running at about 300 volts, providing the expressive, bubbly tone you expect from a real tube pre. For the Spider Valve 212, a matched pair of 6L6 power tubes deliver all the rich harmonic content and gooey analog breakup you crave. Your tone sails along this expertly crafted signal path, backed by 40 watts of power, until it hits the 12-inch Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. A three-quarter closed-back cabinet helps focus the tone for tight, biting lows with added punch.

Flexible Routing: Power Amp In, Preamp Out, MIDI I/O

As you would expect with a blending of Line 6 innovation and Bogner experience, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You get more than a digital modeler, more than a tube amp, something that builds on the strengths of those two concepts and takes them to greater heights. The additional I/O and routing flexibility, for example, lets you take your tone to interesting new places. Since it's a tube amp at heart, you've got all the options you'd expect, including a power amp input to drive the tubes (including the preamp tubes) from another front-end source, a preamp output to drive a second amp from the Spider Valve 112, and 1/4-inch speaker outs to drive external 4- or 8-ohm cabinets (keep in mind you have to disconnect the internal speakers in order to do this).

To take it a step further, the XLR direct out with ground-lift lets you run in Performance Mode (blending the digital preamp signal and tube characteristics) or Studio Mode (modeling only) depending on your needs. If you're sending out to the PA, you're audience is going to want to hear the tubes. If you're recording, the modeler is all you need to lay down meaty guitar tracks. Onboard MIDI In/Out/Thru lets you sync your sound to other outboard digital gear, and effortlessly switch patches. Try to do that with a plain old tube amp! Of course, there's an integrated tuner to keep you on pitch, and the FBV controller jack lets you add a ton of flexibility. You can trigger any of the 128 preset locations without having to walk back to the amp, use the expression pedal for Wah, volume, Pitch Glide, and more, and even update the Spider Valve's firmware right from the FBV. Both the analog power and digital flexibility are great on their own, but combined in the Spider Valve 212 MkII, you're entering a whole new realm of creative expression.

Product Description

The result of a ground-breaking collaborative effort between living-legend amp designer Reinhold Bogner and renowned amp-modeling upstarts Line 6, Spider Valve MkII 112 40-watt combo gives guitarists the best of both worlds: brawny, boutique-style tube tone, and the most advanced Line 6 amp modeling with complete flexibility and deep editing.

Acclaimed Amp Tones

Spider Valve MkII 112 has the tools and tones you need to build your sound from the ground up. It features 16 of the most advanced Line 6 amp models, which were inspired by the most revered American, British and European heads and combos. Each one was custom-tuned for Spider Valve MkII amps.

Get in front of sparkling clean tones inspired by a Hiwatt(r) Custom 100, syrupy smooth drive tones inspired by a mix of a '65 Marshall(r) JTM-45, a '58 Fender(r) Bassman(r) and a '63 Fender(r) Vibroverb, British pop/rock tones inspired by a Vox(r) AC-30 Top Boost, high-gain onslaughts by a Mesa/Boogie(r) Dual Rectifier(r)and a Diezel(r) Herbert, Class A crunch inspired by a Divided by 13 9/15, classic Class A breakup inspired by an Orange(r) AD-30, and more! Store every gig's tones with 128 user-programmable presets.

Need to shape your tone? Tweak the Bass, Mid and Treble knobs just like you would on the original vintage amps. you choose an amp model, the EQ section behaves just like the EQ of the modeled amplifier. Spider Valve MkII 112 gives you a complete, organic and fully authentic representation of its 16 vintage and modern amplifiers.
- 16 of the most advanced Line 6 amp models inspired by beloved American, British and European combos and heads
- Mid-range tones that live on the very edge of breakup, sparkling cleans, high-gain distortions and more
- EQ section by the EQ controls of the original modeled amplifiers
- 128 user-programmable presets

An Instant Collection of Essential FX

Start smart and dive deep with the unprecedented control of Line 6 Smart FX. 20 brilliant effects deliver unprecedented color, adjustability and routing options. You can tweak up to 6 parameters of any effect -- including the intelligent Smart Harmony and Pitch Glide, and easy-to-use 14-second Quick Loop -- and route it pre or post for an extraordinary collection of tone-shaping tools. Plus, you get every guitarist's required palette of colors including beautiful Delays, tangy Mods, lush Reverbs and more. Up to 4 effects can be used simultaneously.
- 20 Smart FX including Smart Harmony, Pitch Glide, Quick Loop & more
- Tweak up to 6 parameters of any effect and route it pre or post
- Up to 4 effects at once

Fully Editable, Deeply Sophisticated

Spider Valve MkII 112 is poised to become the workhorse amp for all kinds of pro players. Its seamless integration into MIDI rigs allows for quick changes to all front-panel controls, easy synching of your time-based effects (to themselves and to your drummer's click-track) as well as other time- and energy-saving features.

Plus, two output modes deliver easy and effective solutions for recording and gigging. Performance Mode lets you send a signal, which provides tube and modeling interaction, via the XLR out to the front-of-house engineer. Studio Mode bypasses the tubes to send the platinum-album Line 6 modeling only.
- Seamless MIDI integration
- Performance Mode provides a direct signal that captures interaction between tubes and modeling
- Studio Mode provides a direct signal that captures the modeling only

Spider Online -- Now Available!

Spider Online is a free online resource for registered Spider amplifier owners that offers over 500 lessons, jam tracks and tones created by Line 6, artists and fellow Spider owners.
- Over 300 lessons covering all genres, styles, theory and application, and techniques
- Over 100 jam tracks, bass and drum grooves, and drum loops played by L.A. and Nashville's top session musicians
- Hundreds of tones that can be downloaded directly to Spider amps (or displayed on-screen for Spider amps that don't support USB connectivity)
- Every lesson includes tabs, audio samples and tones
- Available for owners of any Spider amp, including Spider I through IV, Spider Valve, Spider Jam and Micro Spider

*All product names herein are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with Line 6. These trademarks of other manufacturers are used solely to identify the products of those manufacturers whose tones and sounds were studied during Line 6's sound model development. Hiwatt is a registered trademark of Fernandes Company Ltd. Marshall is a registered trademark of Marshall Amplification Plc. Fender and Bassman are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Vox is a registered trademark of Vox R&D Limited. Mesa/Boogie and Rectifier are registered trademarks of Mesa/Boogie Ltd. Diezel is a registered trademark of Diezel GmbH. Orange is a registered trademark of Orange Personal Communications Services Limited.

Sound:
The tones on this thing are peak. I love it. It's loud as well. My friend has a old Crate 50TD and the valve blows this out of the water! Seriously, it's a loud amp. Tone wise it's great! From wet and heavy deathcore/metalcore sound to a crunchy dry hardcore sound. It is a tube amp, comes with 2 power and 2 pre's. Seriously comes pretty damn equiped. This thing has the best.
Feature:
I only have a Boss ML-2 for it so I haven't fully utilized the amp to it's full potential with the FBV MKII pedal that's out but I will say i can see myself picking one up very soon.
Ease of Use:
Very easy. It's a modeling amp so it's got the Line 6 ease of finding your certain level of distortion, eq it, and add effects (if you need em) and go. You can program your own personal presets as well. It already comes with about 16ish factory presets the rest are defaults which i took the liberty of making a load of different channel presets for my own function and some fun ones too. You can rename them as well, if you'd like, so you can throw your own fun and class into it. For example I made a channel that says Alan's Setting, basically the setting I personally enjoy using for writing and playing with.
Quality:
The thing is heavy as a dead weighted obese zombie, but it's very well made and very well protected for the speaker and tubes. No break in my amp = no break in whoever droped it's face.
Value:
Ok so this thing is a tad on the spendy side. But for what your getting I'm a bit suprised that it ain't a tad more expensive. Basically put, the price is large but fair.
Manufacturer Support:
Never had to deal with em. The amp is only a few weeks old. But I've heard a lot of good things about it.
The Wow Factor:
It does have a very good look to it. Lots of black, blue, amber, and smoke color. Very nice, very good shine, very beautiful.
Overall:
Loud, proud and full of sound. This thing will blow the roof off any size gig, garage, room, or studio. I'm serious. This thing is amazing. Tones galore for any type of guitar player. Bogner+Line6=Win

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"CAN'T MISS BUY. TREAT YOURSELF!!"

Sound:
BOUGHT ONE FROM ZZOUNDS A YEAR AND A HALF AGO, VERY IMPRESSED WITH THE SOUND THEN.......ALSO GOT THE SHORTBOARD CONTROLLER, NO PROBLEMS.......JUST RECENTLY RE-TUBED IT AND SET THE BIAS TO FACTORY SPECS......WOW!!!!!!!!! THIS AMP HOWLS VERY RESPONSIVE TOOK IT OUT OF THE SANCTUARY, AND PUT MY HALF STACK THERE I'M KEEPING THIS CLOSE TO MY STUDIO.
Feature:
WITH THE RIGHT CONTROLLER, NO LIMITS.
Ease of Use:
EASY TO SET UP SOUNDS FROM THE SOUND BANKS.
Quality:
IT'S TOUGH, COMPONENT PLACEMENT SEEMS WELL THOUGHT OUT. REMEMBER I SET THE BIAS SO I GOT A CHANCE TO BREAK IT DOWN AND PUT IT BACK TOGETHER. STILL..... I GOT AN SKB CASE FOR IT FOR THE ROAD. DON'T ASSUME OR TAKE CHANCES.
Value:
THE PERFECT MARRIAGE SO FAR..........PRICE,QUALITY,BOGNER,LINE-6.
Manufacturer Support:
LOVE THE ONLINE FORUM
The Wow Factor:
NOT MUCH FOR THIS BUT IT LOOKS A'RITE
Overall:
REALLY, I WANT IT IN THE 212 VERSION ALSO

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